William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac

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[188] Washington and Centreville, whereas at Manassas Lee was sure to receive fresh accessions of force, while Pope could hope for none. The army was much cut up; thousands had straggled from their commands; the troops had had little to eat for two days previous, and the artillery and cavalry horses had been in harness and saddled continually for ten days.

With untimely obstinacy, Pope determined to remain and again try the issue of battle. To utilize Porter's corps, he drew it over from the isolated position it had held the previous day to the Warrenton road, on which he pivoted, disposing his line in the form of a V reversed—Reynolds' command forming the left leg, and Porter, Sigel, and Reno the right, with Heintzelman's two divisions holding the extreme right. Lee retained the same relative position he had held the day before—Longstreet on the right, and Jackson on the left; but he drew back his left considerably, abandoning during the night some of the ground he had held on that flank.

Now, by one of those curious conjunctures which sometimes occur in battle, it so was that the opposing commanders had that day formed each the same resolution: Pope had determined to attack Lee's left flank, and Lee had determined to attack Pope's left flank. And thus it came about that when Heintzelman pushed forward to feel the enemy's left, the refusal of that flank by Lee, and his withdrawal of troops to his right for the purpose of making his contemplated attack on Pope's left, gave the impression that the Confederates were retreating up the Warrenton turnpike towards Gainesville. This impression was further strengthened by the report of a wounded Confederate soldier who fell into the hands of the Union pickets, and reported that he had heard his comrades say that ‘Jackson was retiring to unite with Longstreet.’ Now this statement was quite correct in the sense in which Lee's manoeuvres have already been presented—that is, as a tactical change of Jackson's position on the left to re-enforce Longstreet on the right. But Pope, who had not that day been to the front, accepted the story as indicating a real falling back, and telegraphed to Washington that the enemy was